


Gregor and the Ceremony of Song

by oneunexpected



Category: The Underland Chronicles - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Gen, and more platonic relationships, bad at descriptions i'll clean it up later, continuation of the series, more characters i'm sure i'm forgetting, plenty more to come!!!, with a bit of fix-it/self-indulgence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 09:45:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14808942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneunexpected/pseuds/oneunexpected
Summary: It's been three years since the war for the Underland drew to a close. Gregor and his family have since moved to their family farm in Virginia, but after the truth about their pasts come to light, they must return to New York, where Gregor finds his fate is still closely tied to the fate of the Underland.





	Gregor and the Ceremony of Song

        Gregor took a deep breath and knocked on the door in front of him. He waited a moment before looking over his shoulder to give his family what he hoped was a reassuring smile. His mom, who had been fiddling with their luggage, paused for a moment to smile back at him, and his dad, who was preoccupied with carrying his mostly asleep sister Margie, did the same. Even Lizzie, who had probably the worst time out of all of them in the past day, offered him a small, brief grin. Gregor turned as he heard a lock click, and when the door swept open, he no longer had to put effort into smiling.  
        “Well, you’ve shot up, haven’t you?” said the old woman in the door, her hands planted firmly on her hips as she surveyed Gregor.  
        “Mrs. Cormaci!” Gregor exclaimed happily, and their old neighbor beamed at him.  
        “Get in here, you lot,” said Mrs. Cormaci, pushing the door open wider, her commanding tone doing nothing to hide how happy she was to see Gregor’s family. “Oh, Grace! Lizzie! Daniel!” she greeted, hugging each of them in turn, carefully avoiding a slowly waking Margie. “Hey there, Boots! How are you, sleepyhead?”  
        “We call her Margie most of the time now,” Gregor’s dad mentioned, looking at the six year old with a smile. “Can you say hi?”  
        Boots grinned sheepishly and turned her head into his shoulder.  
        “Margie! That’s a great name! You’re a little shyer than when we last met. I used to be your neighbor, you see,” said Mrs. Cormaci with a smile, looking a bit sad that she wasn’t remembered.  
        “Oh, she’s just tired. Give her ten minutes and she’ll be bringing you to speed on everything she’s been up to,” said Gregor’s mom, adjusting the luggage she carried. “Where should we set these?”  
        “Follow me,” Mrs. Cormaci said, leading them deeper into her apartment. 

        Within a few minutes, each member of Gregor's family had a place to set their bags and sleep. Gregor's parents would be in what used to be her kids' room, his sisters on a futon in a small study where a bunch of storage boxes were kept, and Gregor would be on the couch. Then Mrs. Cormaci called them to the table, where she served them heaping portions of paprika chicken on a bed of pasta next to steamed broccoli and and freshly baked bread. Gregor thought it might be the best thing he had ever tasted, although he tended to think that about all of her cooking. It had been way too long since he’d had some of it. He preoccupied himself with eating as much as possible while Mrs. Cormaci grilled his sisters on how they were liking school and what they were doing for fun.  
        “I was going to bake a chocolate cake, but I ran out of cocoa powder and not a soul in this building seemed to have any,” said Mrs. Cormaci as she collected dirty dishes, shaking her head, “so we’ll have to save that for tomorrow. Lizzie, how you take B- Margie down to the vending machine to get some candy since I dropped the ball tonight on dessert?” 

        As soon as Gregor’s sisters were off to get candy, Mrs. Cormaci dived directly into the reason his family was there. “Daniel, have you called your brother?”  
        Gregor’s dad shook his head. “No, I figured I’d give him a day. Try to talk some sense into him tomorrow morning.” 

        The day before, Gregor has been at school when he had gotten in a fight. He saw a guy yelling at his girlfriend in his high school’s parking lot, and when he saw him pin her against a wall and raise his fist, Gregor had tried to step in. The guy had been shocked that anyone had seen, and he tried to intimidate Gregor out of telling anyone. It hadn’t worked. So the guy decided to swing at Gregor instead of his girlfriend, and that’s when everything went wrong.  
        Gregor was a rager, a naturally deadly fighter. If a rager lost control, they could deal out far more damage than necessary, easily seriously injuring or even killing others. And Gregor had repeatedly lost control.  
        Gregor had learned about his abilities in a place miles under New York’s surface, after first falling through a grate in his laundry room. The Underland, as it was called, was home to giant rodents, bats, bugs, and more. It was full of danger at every turn, but it was also home to many he loved, especially in the city of humans he had spent most of his time in. The humans had descended from the surface centuries before, led by a man named Bartholomew of Sandwich, a self-interested visionary who wrote prophecies supposedly foretelling the Underland’s future. Gregor happened to match the description of the “warrior” mentioned in Sandwich’s prophecies, and he had gotten roped into several dangerous quests and even a war. His powers as a rager had saved him many times below, and he had even seemed to be gaining control over them, but that had all changed when he resurfaced after the war.  
        Any semblance he had of control was gone. Gregor had gotten himself in a couple of fights since he had gotten back, and when he found himself in the heat of the moment, he was too scared to reign in his fury. He associated it too much with his time fighting in the Underland, and when he remembered those things, he shut down. He stopped thinking as opposed to trying to control the thing he associated so closely with carnage and killing. Then, suddenly, people were yelling and there was one more broken person at his feet.  
        The fight with the guy who was going to hit his girlfriend had been going about like any other until the guy sidestepped just as Gregor swung, sending Gregor careening into the wall. With a sickening “pop,” his shoulder dislocated on contact. That send him into a fury, and he had turned and knocked the boyfriend out with a single punch. Finally, the adrenaline rush had begun to wear off, and Gregor became familiarized with his surroundings again; his shoulder throbbed, the girl sobbed, and the boy lay unmoving. Gregor had wanted to stay around to help them both, to talk to the administration, but he knew he couldn’t. If he stayed, they might’ve asked about his shoulder, and getting medical attention for it might give doctors reason for him to take his shirt off. And if they asked him to do that, they’d find the map of scars that led to the five ragged slashes set deep in his chest. He couldn’t explain to them where he had picked up the scars; there was no believable lie and the truth would land him in a mental ward. So he ran home. 

        Gregor lived on a farm in Virginia with his immediate family and his aunt and uncle. The property had been in his family for generations, and his uncle had carried it on for years. Gregor had been born and raised in New York City, but when he had returned from the war in the Underland three years prior, his mom had told them all to pack up. At first his father coaxed her into letting them stay longer, because neither Gregor's sisters nor he wanted to move, and Gregor’s grandma wasn’t in good enough health, but a few months later, his grandma died of heart complications. Of course, it had been devastating for his family, and his parents decided nothing should keep them in the city anymore. They could make a new life back in Virginia. A happier life.  
        And it wasn’t bad at all. Gregor enjoyed working with the crops and the livestock, and while he was a bit of an outcast at school, he made a few friends. And, of course, he had his family all together, which he hadn’t really had since he was eight. First, his  dad had fallen into the Underland, and when Gregor had gone on a quest to save him, he found his dad was extremely sick after being tortured by giant rats for years. Then about a year later, his mom had nearly died after contracting an Underland plague, and that had separated them again. And then of course the war nearly split their family for good. In Virginia, they were all together again, and slowly, the scars on Gregor’s arms and legs flattened, his dad had stopped getting sick so often, and his mom had quit stroking the dent in her cheek where a huge purple bump had once popped up when she had the plague. Lizzie had fewer panic attacks, and Boots slowly stopped mixing the language of the giant cockroaches, called crawlers, into her English, eventually also deciding Boots was not a fitting name for a kindergartener.  
        But the life that was so close to being normal ended that day. He had burst into his house to his mom and dad, knowing his aunt and uncle would be out working. His parents had been furious with him for running for his consequences, but their anger faded when they noticed the way he was holding his left arm. 

        It was just as Gregor’s dad was pulling his arm back into place when his uncle had walked straight through the front door and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the maimed skin on Gregor’s  chest.  
        They told his uncle the truth, which had not gone over well. He hadn't believed them, and asked about whether the scars had come from abuse, a car crash, or even a dog attack. But none of those could explain any of them. When Lizzie and Margie got home, Lizzie had backed up the story, but Margie had just looked scared and confused and said that none of it had any happened.  
        “She just doesn’t remember, David,” his dad had said, his voice pleading. “Do you remember when I was gone for two years? That’s where I was!” But his uncle couldn’t take it, and threatened to call a psychiatrist or even the police if they didn’t start telling the truth. It had all been too confusing for him—the fights Gregor got into, his mom’s scars, his dad’s strange sickness—but Gregor’s dad had convinced him not to call any services, saying his family would just stay in New York with an old friend until they could figure something out. 

        So they had turned to Mrs. Cormaci, their old neighbor.  
        Gregor snapped back into the present as she replied. “Well, maybe if I can verify your story, he’d  believe us.”  
        Gregor’s dad shook his head. “I’m not sure we can change his mind on this.”  
        “Of course we can,” said Mrs. Cormaci, “he just needs time to process this. Hey, maybe we could have a bat come into the laundry room and take a video with her.”  
        “I doubt it. I tried to show the picture of me and Luxa, but he didn’t think it was real. He figured we had edited it to make her look paler, to add purple eyes, whatever,” said Gregor.  
        “And I don’t want to get anyone down there involved,” Gregor’s mom piped in, “they’d probably want to drag Gregor back down there.”  
        “I don’t think so, mom,” Gregor said with a sigh, knowing there’d probably be no way to convince her otherwise.  
        “Please, Gregor, promise me you won't sneak back there. We can only use that as a last resort,” his mom begged, and Gregor looked up from the table to see she was genuinely scared.  
        “Alright, mom, only as a last resort,” he agreed earnestly, trying to ease her fear.  
        He did wish he could visit the Underlanders while he was in New York. When he had left, there was a fragile peace with the chance the warring between humans and rats, or gnawers, might finally be over. But things could change so quickly in the Underland. Were his friends all right? Vikus, the kind old man who only wanted peace, who had a stroke days before Gregor left? Mareth and Perdita, who had served as his generals on the battlefield and friends off of it? Aurora and Nike, the giant bats, or flyers, that had accompanied Gregor on his quests? Tick, the crawler who perceived danger so well and risked his life time and time again to save Boots? Ripred, the gnawer who had lost about everything he had in hopes of one day creating peace? Luxa, the young queen and the first—and only—girl he had ever fallen in love with? Her cousins, Howard, Nerissa, and Hazard? He couldn’t stand the thought that in the time he had been gone, they had been killed. He wanted nothing more than to know they were okay. But that probably wasn’t going to be any opportunity to find out. 

        His sisters got back about then, giggling with their haul as they distributed candy bars to Gregor and each adult.  
        “Mmm, peanut butter and chocolate, you girls know me so well,” said Gregor as he peeled back the wrapper. “Thank you.”  
        “No problem, Gregor, we had some extra change and we knew it was your favorite,” said Lizzie with a smile.  
        “Well, I think if half of the people in this world were as thoughtful as you two, we’d all be much better off,” said Mrs. Cormaci, peeling back her own candy bar wrapper. 

        Soon, candy bars were gone, teeth were brushed, pajamas were on, and the apartment headed to bed. They were all pretty tired, and everyone got tucked in quickly. One by one, the lights flicked off in the apartment and each person in it drifted off to sleep until Gregor was the last one up, but the familiar lullaby from New York’s city streets claimed him soon enough, too. 

        He stood up from the couch suddenly. From all around the apartment, only one thing could be heard.  
        Scratching.  
        Gregor turned frantically, but everything was pitch black. Echolocation failed him, although he was panting loudly. He opened his mouth to scream, but suddenly the wood floor beneath him split, and he fell through.  
        He was falling so quickly, and there was nothing in sight. But when he hit the bottom of whatever chasm he was falling through, he was not met by a rocky death. It was soft and warm and he was slipping deeper into it...  
        Quicksand.  
        Gregor thrashed, but that only made him sink quicker. He looked up, and to his surprise, he saw a ledge of rock above him, illuminated in a soft orange light. A torso suddenly appeared over the edge, and Gregor recognized the face belonging to it immediately.  
        "Luxa!" He screamed, and the figure above him reached down towards him, tears streaming down her determined face. Gold tears, brightly glowing nearly white. But she was too far away to help him. Suddenly Gregor saw an ant appear from seemingly nowhere and plow into her, and both disappeared from view. He yelled out her name again, falling deeper and deeper into the quicksand. A flash of gold overtook his view, if just for a moment. Aurora?  
        "Well, what now?" Came a voice to his left, and he managed to turn his head to see none other than Ripred, floating easily in the mud. “What’s your plan?” He looked at Gregor expectantly, but Gregor's head was falling in, and then he saw nothing once more. He felt only the weight pressing on every inch of his body, the darkness suffocating him, and when he thought finally he could not hold his breath any longer, the quicksand all fell away and he was falling through the air once more.  
        "Ares!" He cried. But there was no Ares to save him. Ares was gone.  
        He twisted through the air to see rocks flying up to meet him, on them the bodies of still snarling rats, and in their midst he saw Henry, staring up blankly at Gregor. He was moments away from slamming into the rocks and-  
        Gregor bolted up from the couch, safe in Mrs. Cormaci's apartment, his chest heaving. He fought to catch his breath, slowly laying back down on the couch, the noises of New York City soothing him. Down on the streets, some car was blasting a song about keeping love in a photograph. It was sappy, but Gregor figured he wasn't one to judge. He kept the girl he loved in a photograph, too.  
        Gregor sighed, running a hand over his face, blinking at the semidarkness around him. Gregor hadn’t had such a vivid nightmare in quite a few days, and it left him shaken.  
        Gregor shut his eyes quickly as he heard Mrs. Cormaci shuffle into the kitchen. After a few moments of silence, just enough to make Gregor think he was in the clear, came her voice.  
        "They haven't gotten any better? After three years?"  
        He didn't know how she knew he was awake, or how she knew he had just had a nightmare. He didn't ask. Instead, Gregor sighed, “no, they have. They’re less frequent. They’re just… pretty bad when they do happen.”  
        There was silence after this, the only noise coming from the city streets below. Gregor knew the gears in Mrs. Cormaci's head had to be turning pretty quickly because generally she would've replied twice by then.  
        "You're too young for living like this," she finally said, as if she were just thinking aloud. "Mr. Cormaci has nightmares until the day he died, you know.”  
        Gregor did remember hearing that. But he also remembered a kind man who would give him quarters and once even a baseball card. He still had that card, somewhere. Mr. Cormaci may have been scarred from the things he had seen, but he was still a good man who lived a full life.  
        Mrs. Cormaci came over and sat next to him on the couch, offering quiet support as his breathing slowed back down. After several minutes, Gregor said, "Thank you, Mrs. Cormaci. I think I'll try to go back to sleep now."  
        "You're welcome," said Mrs. Cormaci quietly, running a hand over his hair and planting a quick kiss to his head. “Sleep warm.”  
        Gregor smiled. It reminded him of what his grandmother used to do. Comforted, he drifted back to sleep. 

        Gregor woke up from a dreamless sleep when someone began calling his name. He stirred, blinking as he propped himself up, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the scene in front of him. It was still dark out, but in the low light coming from the kitchen, and the bit of echolocation he had retained, he registered three figures in front of him. It was Mrs. Cormaci, he realized, that was calling his name, and she stood next to his parents. He got up on sleep-shaky legs, moving near them when he realized his mom was crying. His dad had an arm around her, his face pale, fearful and his eyes looking blankly to the left.  
        He stopped, his gut twisting, terror and apprehension snaking through his system from his chest out. Where were... "No," he croaked, looking at each of them in turn, waiting for an explanation. Waiting to hear that what he thought was happening couldn’t be.  
        "Your sisters," said Mrs. Cormaci, her voice cracking, "they're gone."  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience! I'm happy to finally have this up! Hopefully I can start updating more regularly for a while after this, now that I think I have formatting down. Also, sorry to leave you guys with a bit of a cliffhanger and without even reintroducing the Underland... that'll be resolved quickly. Feel free to leave comments, or ask me questions at my tumblr, oneunexpected. This is my first attempt at anything but a oneshot, so be gentle with me. Constructive criticism is fine, but know what would really help me most right now is some motivation to get to work on the next chapter!  
> Thanks again!


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